VT holden v6 lpg

[strgas]

I never came on here to bag out others , more to point out the faults and maybe save some people some money on costly repairs due to sloppy or poor conversion work , as yet i haven't said where i work as Im not here to advertise for work thats up too our sales department . and if some are offended by my comments or the way i go about it then maybe i should just shut up and continue to repair others sloppy work at the owners cost .

 

[vxcalais_01]

It also seems to me many installers don't have the correct software to go into the ECU and switch it over to the dual fuel LPG program/tune Holden have built into the cars. Many installers prefer to install the SVI systems now as they are making more profit from them. Yet they too are not without their dramas. What people also do not realize is that the lpg fitted cars can be dyno tuned, and checked under load and tuned accordingly. Underload and high revs is when the mixer systems can lean out, but they can be tuned accordingly with the right install. People say you need to change plugs more often on LPG, when you service your car at Holden every 10-15,000, they are changing out the plugs anyway, on petrol cars. Bosch now have a plug that goes 30,000, i have done 22,000 so far on them and very good. Champion Golds are excellent as well.

 

[vxcalais_01]

Also Backfire valves can be had direct from Impco. When i went to see them start of last year, they were about to get a shipment in as the new Holdens and then fords from the factory were having backfires due to tuning issues.

 

[JuzAndBec]

OK guys - I picked up the Berlina this morning as they were down a mechanic and couldn't finish it on Friday. They had asked to replace the leads as mine were well overdue, apparently everything else electrical was OK.
Conversion was $2100 so $350 out of pocket. Loan car provided. Quick visual inspection shows a second hand tank that has a new April 2010 stamp. A single switch neatly mounted on RHS dash. Guage is integrated and trip functions seem to work. Fuel guage very slow to register a full tank after filling, like 5 minutes but quick after that. Engine bay as new vapourizer and 225 converter thingy. There are 2 PEEL computer 'boxes' screwed to the LHS strut tower with LED's showing RICH or LEAN running. I can see what strgas was talking about in that these boxes are exposed, not sealed and could possibly suffer if exposed to a lot of water/dust etc, have to wait and see on that one.
Starts on petrol and almost imediately switches to LPG with a slight dip in RPM and shudder from the engine. Runs and accelerates perfectly, I'd say better than it did on petrol, very happy with that. I have not floored it yet but can tell there is an approx 15% power loss, not major I can just tell I need to push the pedal a little bit more than I used to. Avg fuel consumption is showing 12.1 at the moment, up from 9.6 on petrol although I have only done aout 30km's from picking it up this morning.

I will post some pics tomorrow if I can take them tonight. Overall first impressions, very happy. Oh and $30 to fill up as opposed to $80

 

[codeunknown]

just what we all wanted to hear...and love to see the pictures..and love to hear more about the use... and milage thanks

 

[VTowner025]

Hi All, new to forum, just wanted someone to have a look at the pictures and see if the installation was put in correctly?. I also used SouthEast LPG conversion several months ago and have been having a lot of troubles with the engine since. Have had about 5 backfires, the first 2 blew of the vacuum hose. was told by Southeast that is common problem for VT hoses as they lose there elasticity over time, this was fixed by gluing it back on. had problems with cold starting, took a couple of goes to get going, seems to be fixed now. Than 1 week ago the car backfired twice in one day, took it back to Southeast conversions, and they changed the coils (car already had new sparkplugs and leads) and adjusted spark gap and mixtures and charged me $360 for the experience, than three days after this (last Wednesday) while travelling 90 km under normal driving conditions the car backfired and blew a three inch hole in the air box. Took it back to Southeast and they said one of the new coils were faulty and they replaced. So at the moment a little bit cautious while driving it. The car has done about 160,000 kms. Has anyone else had problems like this? Thanks

 

[strgas]

hoses dont just fall off and if the engine is back firing then the cause of the back fire needs to be resolved correctly , spark plug gap should be revised for LPG use , 1.0 mm and one heat range cooler and a non resistor type spark plug . BP7EFS is my recommendation with a 1.0 mm gap . From your pics i see one or two things incorrect , first pic of the tank i see no hose clamps on the vent hose at the sub compartment but cant see the other end of the hose at the floor flange , second pic i can see the front lock off mounted on its side . would need to have a closer look to see if this conversion complies with AS1425 standards or not .

 

[slowandlow]

Backfiring issue

I 100% agree with you, i have been installing LPG for many many years now. And the only time i fine it backfiring, is when 1 car is poorly mantain (refer to above) 2 wasn't installed correctly (gas fitters fault) or 3 CHEAP LPG parts (there is alot of cheap and nasty stuff, comming from over seas and beleive me they are **** HOUSE). If you are going to get your car fitted to LPG, i would NOT go for the cheapest price. Ask them what equipment are they using, is it GENUINE (there is alot of copy's out there), what gas tank are they fitting? is your wires soldiers? spilt tube? etc etc I would also ask them to show you a finish product of theirs (you want it to look nice and neat)

i bought a vt v6 on lpg about 2 years ago, and always had the backfiring issue so many people seem to suffer. i went to a (so called expert) local repco licenced lpg installer asking about why this happened. he told me various causes in his opinion, firstly leading him to remove the airflow pipe from my air box.... "oh, this stupid thing always causes commodores to backfire" he said... then leading to me getting the lpg system entirely reconditioned (which was due after the 10 year period anyway), then after that, it still backfired regularly enough, so the repco guys next suggestion, was that my motor was stuffed (which it was, ill agree), so i replaced that with a good second hand job, low and behold...... it STILL backfired just as often. grrrrr! im thinking to myself now. i hit the internet, and saw a guy on the whirlpool forum, talking about setting the plug gap to 0.8 - 0.9 , instead of the normal gap of 1.5 (pretty big difference really). i thought to myself that this was well worth trying, so set em all up to 0.9. went for a test drive, and my eyes nearly rolled around in my head 720 degrees. NO BACKFIRES. i tried to create all the driving situations before that had made it backfire, and it just wouldnt do it. makes me think of how much of an a$$ the repco lpg installer was, or whether he is really an expert at all.
try this first if you have a BACKFIRING ECOTEC ON LPG . it is the cheapest thing you could try, and, it will probably work.
NO BULL!!!!!!!!

 

[VTowner025]

Just an update on this one, I had enough of the back fires at the start of the year and took the car to Smithy's lpg conversation in Melbourne, only 2 lpg places recommended by the RACV in Melbourne and this is one of them. Anyway they inspected the LPG conversation and there assessment was not good, it had multiple air leaks, missing hose clamps, electronics in the wrong spot, condenser or something upside down, which may draw in fluid and flood over time, and other things. They repaired it all including changing the leads and spark plugs with a combination they say works best with my type of car. With 6 months on, at least 30,000 kms I have not had 1 backfire. The car seems to have the same amount of power with or without lpg being used.

 

[brayzer]

Would also like feedback my VT wagon has Vapor Injection, 50 litres usable, has just been fuuly dynoed, before was getting 320km from tank , now only 280km! has anyone got any thoughts on the loss of economy. They are a reputable mob and have replaced lots of bits but the only thing incresing is my debt level